NFL - NEWS & NOTES

I guess the Browns weren't really out of the running after all.

I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't Atlanta.

 

Cordarrelle Patterson stays with Falcons



After having his best season in Atlanta last year, Cordarrelle Patterson will stick around.

The Falcons and Patterson have agreed to a new contract, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.


Patterson was a unique playmaker last season, carrying 153 times for 618 yards and six touchdowns, while also catching 52 passes for 548 yards and five touchdowns. All of those numbers were career-highs.

But wait, there’s more: Patterson also had 18 kickoff returns for 434 yards. And he even played two snaps on defense.

Now the Falcons will bring Patterson back and see what else they can find for their do-everything playmaker to do.

PFT

 

Fletcher Cox is heading back to Philly.

Cox, who was released Thursday by the Eagles, signed a one-year, $14 million contract on Saturday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.

 

So, the Eagles cut Cox last Thursday, re-sign him and save $4M... nice. Confusing to me, but nice.

 

Atlanta also signed Damien Williams to a one year deal, so they seem to have the RB position covered for this season. Mike Davis is still under contract, and I really like the potential of practice squad prospect Caleb Huntley, an undrafted rookie last year from Ball State. He was the very bottom of the depth chart last year, but the coaching staff kept him all year and resigned him to a futures contract, so apparently they liked what they saw from him too.

It's the WR group that really, really needs help. They've got nothing, and it's not a cool hand.

 

It's confusing to everybody. I gave up trying to get all the details to piece the exact numbers together.

What I know is they had already restructured three times and had loaded the old contract with bogus autovoid years, so they were going to take a dead money hit in 2023 even if they kept him. In that sense they didn't have much to lose by doing this cut/resign thing.

In the meantime, the articles all say a big chunk of money was about to become guaranteed if he was on the roster at 4pm the day they released him. I suspect that included a hefty roster bonus that they avoided paying altogether by having him off the roster for a few days. By making his release a post June 1 designation, they do have to carry a little extra cap until June, but it's probably less than that roster bonus would have been, and the true dead money hit stays in 2023 where it would have been all along.

So specifically for 2022 they do come out a bit ahead on the cap now and a little more on June 2. BUT... his new contract also has the bogus autovoid years, so they're digging the hole a little deeper for 2023.

In the end, it's just a convoluted way of doing yet another restructuring.

(To me it doesn't seem like his agent's style to go that way rather than simply restructuring yet again and avoid having his client go through any unnecessary period of uncertainty, but some of the articles also say the Eagles were trying to work a trade. That makes more sense. If true, it suggests that Cox and France simply stepped back to wait and see how it played out. If he did get traded, he would get the bonus from his new team along with the other guarantees that would have kicked in at that 4pm deadline. If no trade, Cox still gained a little extra leverage by already being on the open market.)

 

Rams trade Robert Woods to Titans



The Rams are trading wide receiver Robert Woods to the Titans.

Woods was having a good season in 2021 before he tore his ACL, and he was expected to recover and stay with the Rams in 2022. But after the Rams signed receiver Allen Robinson in free agency, Woods became expendable.


The Titans apparently believe that Woods will heal up and be ready to go this season. Woods is due a $10 million base salary this season; there’s no immediate word on whether he has agreed to a new contract with the Titans.

Tennessee is reportedly sending a 2023 sixth-round pick to the Rams to acquire Woods.

Woods had spent the last five years with the Rams after playing four years before that for the Bills. Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing was on the Bills’ staff in 2014 when Woods was in Buffalo, so there’s some familiarity there.

The Titans were in the market for a wide receiver after cutting Julio Jones, and Woods is their man.

PFT

 

Bengals are landing La’el Collins



The Cowboys moved on. The Bengals moved in.

The Bengals and tackle La'el Collins are “finishing up” a deal, per a source with knowledge of the situation. Cincinnati was aggressive and remained persistent, getting an agreement finalized before other teams could lure Collins to town.


Three other teams were interested. Cincinnati knew it; Collins was scheduled to visit another team tomorrow. And Collins knew the time had arrived to do a deal.

Whatever Collins ends up getting from the Bengals, the significant free-agent money is drying up. Timing is everything, and Collins decided to was time to accept Cincinnati’s offer.

He becomes the third starting-caliber offensive lineman added by the Bengals this week, joining guard Alex Cappa and center Ted Karras. It’s exactly what the Bengals need, if they hope to compete in an increasingly difficult AFC.

PFT

 

Seahawks, Rashaad Penny agree to one-year deal



The Seahawks will keep running back Rashaad Penny in Seattle.

Penny and the Seahawks agreed to a one-year contract today, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.


The deal is for $5.75 million with another possible $750,000 in incentives, according to the report.

The Seahawks took Penny with the 27th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft. Last year Penny led the Seahawks with 119 carries for 749 yards and six touchdowns.

PFT

 

It has been THE WILDEST off-season I can ever remember.

Still waiting to hear who the new Colts QB is.
I’m hoping for Jimmy G for those wondering.
Rookie or Baker Mayfield are my backup options.

 

Chargers signing TE Gerald Everett to two-year, $12 million deal

Justin Herbert has a new toy to play with.

The Los Angeles Chargers are signing veteran tight end Gerald Everett to a two-year, $12 million deal, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Sunday. The pact includes $8 million fully guaranteed and a max value of $13.5 million, Rapoport added.

Everett joins a formidable receiving corps fronted by Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, with major contributions from running back Austin Ekeler. Last year, 34-year-old TE Jared Cook caught 48 passes in this pass-happy offense. The 27-year-old Everett produced the same total in his first season with the balanced Seahawks.

The former Rams reserve has seen his involvement increase in each of his five NFL seasons. Everett figures to get even more opportunities in 2022 with the Chargers, who often employ two-tight end sets and air it out behind one of the better arms in football.

With Cook walking in free agency and Donald Parham still finding his way heading into his third year, Everett could be poised for a breakout season.

NFL.com

 

Outstanding move by the Titans. As bad as the Julio trade was, and it was always bad in terms of cost, this is good.

It seems to signal a bit of a shift in Titans thinking tho at the position. Julio was a clear outside receiver, the Titans goal in 2021 was to put another one of those opposite AJ Brown. If they'd wanted another of those they could've easily pursued the guy who just took Woods' roster spot, Allen Robinson. Woods is by far the better choice on a number of levels. And the price, wow. Remember 12months ago when Woods and Kupps numbers were almost exactly the same? This is a classic buy low move.

Dont really get what the Rams are doing here tho. The structure of ARob's deal hasnt been revealed yet but id have to imagine these moves were made largely for short term cap relief. Woods cap hits the next 2years aren't low, but they arent that high either. I just dont like it on the Rams part. Woods may play a slightly different WR position to ARob, but he's at least a match in terms of pure production. Then you add in all the other things he does, scheme versatility, being able to take carries, being a top class run blocker. The Rams have made their offense more predictable with this move with very little in the way of production upgrade or draft collateral.

At this stage clear trade win to the Titans.

 

This has been a proper crazy offseason totally agree.

Also, RTTRUTH rates Jimmy G over Baker. Im sure there are plenty of Browns fans who can be equally honest about this now they have a new QB.

 

Wildest is one way to put it... surreal is another also... been that way to me anyway.

Im guessing Jimmy G to the Colts and Baker Mayfield to Seattle. Both QB's could spark a bidding war between Seattle and Indianapolis, which bodes well for the 49ers and Browns, but since I said that the opposite will probably happen (dont hate me, lol).

By far the drama with Cleveland and the Watson/Mayfield thing, tops my vote for strangest/surprising deal of the off-season. Davante Adams leaving Green Bay was a shocker, especially being the favorite target of Rodgers... just to name a couple. We still have the draft to do also, that could land a few surprises also.

 

Matt Ryan to Indy for a 3rd

 

It’s really quite close to be honest. Jimmy has been further in the playoffs though and proven to be a cooperative, distraction free teammate. For those reasons I preferred him for our current situation. Also, figured he would cost less.

I’m happy with Matty Ice though. Should be fun

 

I think everyone here already knows I strongly disagree with this approach by Atlanta.

But I'm happy for Matt Ryan, and I'd also like to thank Amnesty International for their efforts in helping Ryan get away from the Falcons organization.

 

Atlanta failed to land Deshaun Watson (and I'm happy about that, because landing him would have done more harm than good considering the cap situation). Matt Ryan agreed to push back his roster bonus date from last week to tomorrow in order to give the team time to trade Ryan in their efforts to land Watson. No matter what else anyone might think of him, Matt Ryan is a class act.

Flip side... that move says that he (and his agent) knew the team intended to replace him immediately. I'd say there's a pretty strong chance that when they agreed to push back the roster bonus, the team agreed to trade him regardless of whether or not they landed Watson. Ryan wouldn't publicly say anything about wanting out, but the team had no running game and no blocking last year, and now they have no wide receivers either. Not an ideal situation for a good quarterback in the later years of his career.

If I'm in Ryan's place or his agent's place, sure, we'll push back the bonus a week to help the team - but get us to a contender or set us free in return.

So what was/is Atlanta's "Plan B" now that Watson is off the table? They might actually be going with the "just blow it up" scenario. By trading Ryan, the Falcons now have a staggering $62 million in dead money on their 2022 cap. BUT... at this point they have $0 dead money for 2023, and only three players (including Calvin Ridley) with 2023 cap figures north of $10 million.


UPDATE: Atlanta has signed Marcus Mariota to a 2-year deal.

I'll leave it up to all of you to decide for yourselves if that fits in with the "just blow it up" scenario.

 

Totally agree, it is pretty close. But G has extensive playoff experience and to elaborate on your second point, he isnt an immature little douchebag. Fans who know would make the same call as you.

I think you should be. Yes he's old and its hard to see the Colts getting more than 2 seasons out of this, but he's a consummate pro and he can still play. On his good days Ryan is still a just-inside top10 QB. Def not as far over the hill as Rivers was imo and not a ginger let-down waiting to happen like Wentz. Same as whoever else woulda come in there, he still needs another good receiver.

As for Ballard, after Rivers and then Wentz, he really needs some kind of a hit with this one. If the QB is viewed as holding the team back(again) he's gonna come under massive pressure. But whether you compare them straight up or adjusted for cost, Ryan looks clearly like the best move Ballard has made out of the 3. The 3rd round pick was right within the limitations i set out the other week. And the fact its already covered by part of the Washington trade gives a nice optic for Ballard. Went into damage control, cleaned up his mess and came out the other end looking competent and in control. He's had a good couple of weeks.

But i'd still love to know if there were conversations with Lynch and if so how that went down.